Nokia intros cheap Asha 501 smartphone, new Asha platform

First spotted last month, at the same time with the QWERTY Asha 210, the Nokia Asha 501 is official now, alongside a brand new Asha mobile platform.

The Asha 501 is presented by Nokia as a “sub $100” smartphone, because it will cost just $99 when it hits the shelves around the world (starting June). It’s a full-touch handset that sports a 3 inch QVGA scratch-resistant display, and a removable back casing, promising to “make high-end design and quality accessible to more people.”

The 501 allows users to choose between two main UI screens, called Home and Fastlane. Home is a classic icon-based screen, while Fastlane includes recent contacts, and recently used apps and social networking features. Fastlane also “provides a record of how the phone is used, giving people a glimpse of their past, present and future activity, and helping them multi-task by providing easy access to their favorite features.”

Weighing 98 grams and measuring 99.2 x 58 x 12.1 mm, the Nokia Asha 501 is a very small smartphone. Its other features include: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 3.0, Micro USB, 3.5mm headset jack, 3.2MP rear camera, free EA games, Nokia Xpress Browser, 1,200 mAh battery, and a 4GB MicroSD card included in the box. There will be single SIM and dual SIM versions of the handset, and six color options: red, yellow, blue, green, white and black.

A short video presentation of the device is embedded below:

As already mentioned, the Asha 501 will be available for purchase starting June. It should be out in 90 countries, via 60 mobile operators. In India and Africa (two of the markets where cheap smartphones are really successful), Aircel and Nokia have partnered to offer data-free Facebook access to Asha 501 buyers for a limited period of time.

Nokia hopes to sell 100 million devices based on the new Asha platform in the coming years. You can read more about the platform here.